Kids, adults learn simple machines with LEGO

Phillip Keegan, right, and his brother Daniel get help from Reyna Hamilton as they look over a motorized big rig made of LEGOs during LEGO Engineering at Lawrence Hall of Science Inventor?s Lab in Vallejo on Saturday. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

Children and their parents put their heads together over a colorful and timeless children's classic Saturday, during a LEGO Engineering session at Vallejo's own Inventor's Lab.

The free event was organized by the Magazine Street lab to teach children about simple machines, using the children's play blocks, motors and programmable minicomputers.

"LEGO is really popular," Reyna Hamilton of the Inventor's Lab said. "Children innately like LEGO. It's what kids play with. We are just teaching them how to expand their knowledge using the toy they already like."

Hamilton and another staff member walked around the room to help anyone with their questions.

The Saturday session attracted more than 100 children, she added.

One was 8-year-old Marvez Carroll, who was building a race car with his mother, Mary Miller.

"I like it because it's fun," said Marvez, whose aspiration is to become an inventor. "I have lots of LEGOs at home."

His mother said the duo tries to visit the South Vallejo lab once a month.

"We love coming here," Miller said.

She said as a pre-school teacher she appreciates the opportunity to explore the sciences outside of the school.